In an event, such as an emergency situation or service request (also referred to herein as an incident), responding workers and resources (e.g. police, fire fighters, utility workers, transportation vehicles, military personnel, etc.) may be called in to address the situation. Moreover, it is further known that different event responder resources may use different communication networks such as, for instance, different private radio networks or may use different communication means such as voice talk groups, multimedia data groups, etc. The communication networks can also vary in resource availability based upon multiple factors including, but not limited to, network load, bandwidth partitioning, priority, as well as the geographical location of the user.
During the event, there is a need to dynamically identify resources, relevant content, and proper communication links with groups that need to participate in the event related activity. However, existing methods teach about generation of virtual communication groups based only on the location of endpoint devices that are connected to these different communication networks, not taking into consideration other factors that bear on communication group formation.
Therefore, there exists a need for a method and system to form a communication group for optimizing content distribution related to an event across one or more communication systems and one or more groups of users.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. In addition, the description and drawings do not necessarily require the order illustrated. It will be further appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required.
Apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. Thus, it will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, common and well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment may not be depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments.